第三部分 名人故事（三）

11. Mark Twain, Welcome American Humorist

马克•吐温—受欢迎的美国幽默作家

马克·吐温，真名塞姆·朗赫恩·克列门斯（Samuel Langhorne Clemens），是美国的幽默大师、小说家、作家，亦是著名演说家。短篇小说《百万英磅》、《竞选州长》和长篇《哈克贝里·芬历险记》、《汤姆·索亚历险记》最为人们所称道。海伦·凯勒曾言：“我喜欢马克吐温——谁会不喜欢他呢？即使是上帝，亦会钟爱他，赋予其智慧，并于其心灵里绘画出一道爱与信仰的彩虹。”威廉·福克纳称马克·吐温为“第一位真正的美国作家，我们都是继承他而来”。

One of the best known American writers is Samuel Langhorne Clemens, whose pen name is Mark Twain. Born in 1855, Twain grew up in the Mississippi River town of Hannibal, Missouri. As did many other boys of his day, Twain dreamed of traveling on riverboats and of someday becoming a riverboat pilot. Twain used his memories of the life of a river town in his two most famous books, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

As a young man Twain held many jobs. He was a printer, a gold miner, and for a time, he was a riverboat pilot. During his pilot days, he adopted the name Mark Twain. This was a term used by the boatmen to mean that the water measured two fathoms, or twelve feet, which was deep enough for safe passage.

Finally Twain became a successful writer. He traveled a great deal, writing and speaking, and became very popular both in the United States and in Europe.

Twain's style of writing was simple and direct. Among the things he wrote about were superstitious people and people who were easily fooled. He used his unusual gift for humor to write about many things of importance.

Comprehension Questions:

1. Samuel Langhorne Clemens ______

A. was as famous as Mark Twain.

B. is better known than Mark Twain.

C. grew up in the Mississippi River town of Hannibal with Mark Twain as his friend.

D. was used by Mark Twain as his pen name.

A. a term to indicate Mark Twain.

B. a depth at which boats can safely pass.

C. was used by boatmen to measure the depth of water.

D. considered to be deep enough for pilots to swim across the river.

5. Twain’s style of writing is ______

A. humorous B. simple C. direct D. all of the above.

(DDBBD)

12. Charles Dickens, One of the Greatest English Writers

查尔斯•狄更斯—英国最伟大的作家之一

查尔斯·狄更斯，是英国文学史上唯一可与莎士比亚媲美的伟大作家。1812年2月7日生于朴次茅斯市郊，1870年6月9日卒于罗切斯特附近的盖茨山庄。一生共创作长篇小说13部半，其中多数是近百万言的大部头作品，中篇小说20余部，短篇小说数百篇，以及大量演说词、书信 、散文、杂诗。其中，《圣诞颂歌》、《大卫·科波菲尔》、《双城记》最为人们所称道。他多次去欧洲大陆游历、旅居，两次访问美国。

When Charles Dickens was a small boy, he was sent by his parents to work in a boot-blacking factory. His parents had other children and many debts to pay.

Charles's father was put into prison for his debts. The boy tried to raise money enough to get him out but was unsuccessful. At last, the whole family went to live with Charles's father in his room in the Marsalsea prison. This was a common practice and, while the prisoner could not leave the grounds, the families could go in and out freely until the gate was locked at night.

For the rest of his days, Dickens was interested in prisons. Whenever he traveled through strange towns and cities, he went to visit them, as other tourists would visit museums and palaces. Almost every book he wrote has a prison and some prisoners in it.

He had been born in 1812 and had stayed busy at one kind of work or another from the time he was six years of age. He died of a sudden stroke in 1870. He provided the world with its clearest picture of the texture of English life during the 1800's, one without which readers would never know the sounds, smells, and tastes of those long-ago days.

A. the boy couldn't raise enough money.

B. he couldn't return the money he had borrowed from others.

C. the boy was unsuccessful in making enough money in the boot-blacking factory.

D. the boy was too small to save him.

3. The common practice of those days was ______

A. the family should go to live together with the prisoner.

B. the family members should remain in prison until the prisoner was set free.

C. the family members could stay with the prisoner and have freedom to leave or enter the prison in the daytime.

D. the family members could go in and out of the prison at any time.

4. The difference between Charles Dickens and other tourists lies in that ______

A. he liked to visit prisons while others didn't.

B. he liked to visit palaces while others didn't.

C. he was not interested in prisons while others were.

D. others showed more interest in prisons than him.

5. If you read Charles Dickens’s novels, you can ______

A. see a clearest picture.

B. hear the sounds, enjoy the smells and tastes of those long-ago days.

C. know very clearly what the life of the nineteenth century England was like.

D. know clearly how he and his family lived in the prison.

(BBCAC)

13. Goethe, Germany’s Greatest Poet

歌德—德国最伟大的诗人

约翰·沃尔夫冈·歌德(1749－1832)，是18世纪中叶到19世纪初德国和欧洲最重要的作家、诗人。歌德是德国狂飙突进运动的主将，其作品充满了反叛精神，在诗歌、戏剧、散文等方面都有较高的成就。主要作品有剧本《葛兹·冯·伯里欣根》、中篇小说《少年维特的烦恼》、未完成的诗剧《普罗米修斯》和诗剧《浮士德》的雏形《原浮士德》。此外还写了许多抒情诗和评论文章。他对世界文学宝库的巨大贡献，使他成为世界文化名人，每年逢他的生日，各国文艺界都举行纪念活动。

his close friend Kestner. Brokenhearted, he returned to Frankfurt and later discovered that Kestner had killed himself. These events form the basis of his beautiful novel The Sorrow of Young Werther, the most important literary work of the early Romantic period.

In 1786 Goethe toured Italy, and this had a strong influence on his work, allowing him to join his earlier Romantic style with the Classic idea of Greece and Rome.

His masterpiece, Faust, published in 1831, was the product of fifty years of work. It is the greatest dramatic poem in the German language.

Goethe died at Weimar in 1832. He left behind him a reputation as one of Europe's foremost writers and philosophers. Today the reputation is stronger than ever.

Comprehension Questions:

1. When we mention the town of Frankfurt we often think of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe because ______

A. Germany's greatest literary man Goethe was born there.

B. Goethe left Frankfurt many times.

C. Goethe always thought of Frankfurt as his home.

D. Goethe loved Frankfurt.

2. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true? ______

A. The door of the house where Goethe once lived is always open.

B. People all over the world can go and visit the house where Goethe once lived.

C. The room in the house where Goethe once lived is the Goethe Museum.

D. There are many paintings and documents about Goethe's life and work in the house where he once lived

3. The third paragraph of the passage tells us ______

A. that Goethe fell in love with his close friend Kestner's girlfriend.

B. Goethe's return to Frankfurt.

C. that Goethe was very sad over the death of his close friend Kestner.

D. what formed the basis of Goethe's beautiful novel The Sorrow of Young Werther.

14. Winston Churchill, Famous British Statesman, Orator and Writer

温斯顿•丘吉尔—英国著名政治家、演说家和作家

温斯顿·丘吉尔，英国著名政治家、演说家、作家和记者，1953年诺贝尔文学奖得主。曾于1940－1945年和1951－1955年期间两度任英国首相，被认为是20世纪最重要的政治领袖之一，领导英国获得第二次世界大战的胜利。此外，他还是被公认为世界上掌握英语词汇量最多的人（约5万多）。

Winston Churchill (1874—1965) was born into a famed family. His father was a successful politician. In October 1900, Churchill was elected to Parliament for the first time. In 1939, Germany attacked Poland, and the following year, he became the Prime Minister of England.

France fell. The Germans crushed Western Europe. Britain was on the edge of complete defeat. Was it not possible to ask for peace, and make talks with Hitler? Churchill spoke, “I have nothing to offer but blood, tears and sweat…. You ask what is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory!”

The Germans began gathering their armies on the French coast and prepared to invade Britain. The British had not enough rifles to go around. Churchill gave the answer, “We shall defend our island, whatever cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the land ground, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender.”

By his courage, hard work and faith, Churchill inspired his people. Victory finally came when the Germans were defeated at the end of World War II.

Here is a well-known story told about Churchill.

During the Second World War, Winston Churchill was the British prime minister. One day he had to go to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to make an important speech to the nation.

An hour before the time of his speech, he stopped a taxi in the street and asked the driver to take him to the BBC, but the taxi driver, who did not recognize him, said he could not take him anywhere just then, because he wanted to go back to his home at the other end of London to hear Churchill make a speech on the radio.

2. “France fell.” Here the word “fell” means ______

A. fell down B. gave up C. was defeated D. was surrounded

3. Facing the Germans' invasion, Churchill decided ______

A. to defend Britain with blood, tears and sweat.

B. to get more rifles to go around.

C. to give in.

D. to inspire his people.

4. The driver refused to take Churchill to the BBC because ______

A. he hated Churchill.

B. he had something important to do.

C. he wanted to go home in the opposite direction.

D. Churchill offered him too little money.

5. From the story we could learn that Churchill was ______

A. a modest man.

B. a great man.

C. a generous man.

D. fond of listening to good words.

(BCABA)

15. Wilhelm Konrad Rontgen, Discoverer of X-rays

威廉•康拉德•伦琴—X射线的发现者

X射线的发现者威廉·康拉德·伦琴，于1845年出生在德国尼普镇。发现X射线的全部功劳都应归于伦琴，他的发现是前所未料的。而且他的发现对贝克雷尔及其他研究人员都有重要的促进作用。1901年，伦琴获得诺贝尔物理奖，是获得该项奖的第一人。他于1923年在德国慕尼黑与世长辞。

If you break your arm or leg, you will be probably sent to hospital to have an X-ray photo taken to find out just where the break is and what kind of break it is. If a child swallows a hard thing, as sometimes happens, the doctor, by the help of X-rays, will be able to find out just where it has got to in the child’s body. Every hospital has an X-ray department. Dentists also take X-ray photos of people’s teeth which do not show from the outside. X-rays were first discovered by a German scientist, Wilhelm Konrad Rontgen (1845-1923), in 1895, almost by accident.

pass not only through the black paper but also wood.

Comprehension Questions:

1. The first paragraph mainly tells us ______

A. some uses of X-rays.

B. what we should do when one’s arm or leg is broken.

C. that every hospital has an X-ray department.

D. that X-rays were discovered in 1895.

2. The second paragraph shows ______

A. the uses of X-rays.

B. that Rontgen and other scientists once did an experiment together.

C. that X-rays could make a screen become bright.

D. how X-rays were discovered.

3. We know that X-rays can hardly pass through ______

A. black paper B. bones C. wood D. flesh

4. The word "radiation" means ______

A. glowing. B. going through things.

C. sending out energy, heat etc. in rays. D. shining.

2016年高中英语阅读理解 第三部分 名人故事（三）练习